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For the past few months, my focus on photography has shifted to Architectural Photography. I realized that although I would much rather be outside looking at a breathtaking landscape and enjoying the sounds and feel of nature, that is just not the reality of my current situation. That’s mainly because where I live, residential housing and commercial buildings have been coming up like mushrooms. Pflugerville is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, 11th on the scale according to census. More and more people and businesses are coming here.

It’s hard to ignore the reality that the place where I used to enjoy taking photos of sunrises and sunsets are now surrounded by all these houses and buildings. With so much going on around me, I decided it’s time to add Architectural photography to my skills. I have shot some architectural photos before in my travels but as I learn more about this type of photography, the way I see things have changed. It is a different way of shooting compared to landscapes especially when you are doing interiors. The lines must be straight, the colors have to be true, and the angle of shot plays a significant role in the way the room is perceived. There’s a lot to learn because it’s a different kind of specialty.

I am so excited and hopeful with the many possibilities architectural photography skills can lead me to. If you are an architect, a realtor, an interior designer, decorator, home stager or a vacation rental owner, I would love to meet you and discuss how we can work together.

Exactly one week from now, I will be celebrating my sixth year in digital SLR photography. It was on February 4, 2010 when I received my very first DSLR – a new Nikon D3000 as a birthday present from my husband and my daughter. It wasn’t a surprise. I knew I was going to get it because I requested for it. I had been anxiously waiting for it in the mail.

I owe my introduction to the wonderful world of photography from my brother Alex. He used to have a SLR camera and shot with it occasionally. During Christmas break of 2014, he brought his new Nikon D3000 camera with him when he came to visit. I was so curious and kept asking him questions so he let me borrow it. I remember my very first shot was not good at all. I didn’t know how to make the camera work – I didn’t even know the proper way to hold it. I didn’t know what all the buttons and dials were for and what the numbers meant. I didn’t even know how to focus properly even though it was set on auto focus 🙂 But as I kept firing the shutter, I got more and more curious. I asked my brother if he will give me his new camera, but my pleading didn’t work.

This year, I am participating again the Pflugerville Photography Exhibit at the Pflugerville Public Library. This is a great way to showcase the work of talented local photographers who are passionate about their craft. I have four photos on display. Three of which were printed on 16″ x 20″ canvas, while the other one was printed on a 20″ x 24″ metal.

On display at the Pflugerville Library – Len Bishop Photography

The exhibit will run from October 4 to November 18, 2015. So if you are in the area, I am inviting you to browse through the photos at the library. And if you’ve already been there, thank you for visiting. Now go tell your family and friends about it. This will help spread the word, and hopefully will get other photographers to join the exhibit next year.

You’ve probably seen some photos online of weird but interesting looking tiny planets. This isn’t a new Photoshop project but I thought I’d make some of my own photos into my own Tiny Planets.

To start with, I selected a photo from our family’s recent trip this summer to the Northeast. The photo that I found that I thought would make a good Tiny Planet was shot in Maryland while we were on the road. My husband was driving and I was on the passenger seat of our motorhome.

My criteria for selecting this photo are:

Clear sky

Interesting subject

Similar things on each end of the photo – in this example I have trees that are quite similar in height and looks so I can easily blend them together.

Maryland farm with red barn – Original unedited

As you can see, this is just an ordinary photo, with boring sky, power lines, and some movement at the bottom since the vehicle was moving fast. I didn’t even roll down the window when I took this photo. Nothing exciting here, just a snapshot.

In order to use this for my tiny planet creation, I had to make it into a panorama. I cropped the top and the bottom of the photo and I also did some minor adjustments to make the colors pop a little. This is what it looks like after some minor tweaking.

For the past few months, I have been feeling kind of uninspired as far as my photography goes. I have not gone walking and exploring nature in awhile. Even going for a walk which used to be fun felt like a chore so I didn’t really go out. So many beautiful sunrises and sunsets have gone by, yet I have not even picked up my camera to shoot. For some reason, I just didn’t feel like shooting anything just for fun. I have been telling myself that I have seen better or that I’ll see another beautiful sunrise or sunset again soon so I’ll just wait. Who am I kidding? I’ve lost a lot of opportunity to shoot, and the awesome sunrises and sunsets are not going to be exactly the same. Each one is different. And it’s not just sunrises and sunsets. I have had opportunities to shoot some photos of my parents before they left a few days ago to move to another state. I have always pictured some shots of them in my mind but have not taken time to ask them to allow me to make those photos. And now what? It’s too late. I’ve missed a lot of chances. And yes, as we know it, regret is always in the end.

Just to get me back into the groove, this past Sunday, I forced myself to walk around Lake Pflugerville as it’s the closest trail from my house. I didn’t take my mirrorless camera which used to always hang around my waist in my little belt bag every time I go for a walk. I figured I’ll just walk for exercise and not take photos at all. But as soon as I saw the beautiful sunflowers, there was a feeling of excitement. They were not perfect as you can see but the yellow color of the sunflower against the blue color of water and sky was just very appealing to me. So I grabbed my phone and took several shots.